[CANUFNET] 2015 Envirothon - Urban and Community Forestry

Tue Feb 3 11:02:38 EST 2015

Greetings Mark:

Nicely put about the range from city hall to the last road in the boonies.  Trees are, after all, trees - in what context they are growing makes all the difference.  In my 45-yr experience of working with trees all the way from the city through the farmland to the deep hinterland, I have come to respect the differences between silviculture and arboriculture.  There is way more arboriculture in Canadian urban forests than silviculture, and way more silviculture in Canadian community forests than arboriculture.  I  think it will be important to help Envirothon participants to understand these distinctions.

Cheers, Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: CANUFNET [mailto:canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of Mead, Mark
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2015 6:31 PM
To: Canadian Urban Forest Network
Cc: Kari Brown
Subject: Re: [CANUFNET] 2015 Envirothon - Urban and Community Forestry

Kari,
As an American working in both areas community and urban forestry, I could not agree with you more. However, I would like to make a small effort to help correct the notion that these are different fields. My perspective as a forester that became an arborist, then an urban forester is that production forestry, community forestry and urban forestry are along a spectrum running from the steps of city hall to the last logging road. We use the same tools, just for different outcomes. 
________________________________________
From: CANUFNET [canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of Peter Duinker [Peter.Duinker at Dal.Ca]
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2015 9:46 AM
To: Canadian Urban Forest Network
Cc: Kari Brown
Subject: Re: [CANUFNET] 2015 Envirothon - Urban and Community Forestry

Dear Urban-Forest Colleagues:

I have become pretty deeply involved in the NS Envirothon initiative this year because of the special theme - urban and community forests.  I write to let you know about a serious difference of interpretation that the Americans have, compared to Canadians, about urban and community forests.  As a scholar of both of these domains of forest management, I would argue that the normal Canadian interpretation of community forest is a rural forest managed by a community - often a small one like a town - for the community.  A quick glance at the website of the BC Community Forest Association will provide foundation for this view.  As the Envirothon mothership has conceived community forest, it appears like it means the trees and woodlands associated with a small community - e.g., village or town.

This is an important distinction.  If you look at the Canadian experiences and literatures about urban forests and community forests, they hardly overlap at all.  In fact, I would say the same about the American experiences and literatures, but somebody in the Envirothon head office has determined that urban forests and community forests are essentially one and the same, with the only difference being the size of the community - if big, then urban forest; if small, then community forest.  This is NOT a good interpretation for Canada.

What we are doing in Nova Scotia is preparing separate curriculum materials on urban forests and community forests.  We would be happy to share these materials with other Envirothon folks when they are ready in April - just let me know.  The point of taking this approach, and sending this message, is to encourage a uniquely Canadian perspective on this year's special theme but to remind folks that for Canadian teams heading to the final event in Missouri in July, the American interpretation of urban/community forest will prevail.

Best wishes,

Peter Duinker
Professor
School for Resource and Environmental Studies Dalhousie University

From: CANUFNET [mailto:canufnet-bounces at list.web.net] On Behalf Of Laura Banks
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2015 01:01 PM
To: 'canufnet at list.web.net'
Subject: [CANUFNET] 2015 Envirothon - Urban and Community Forestry

Did you know that the 2015 Envirothon theme this year is Urban and Community Forestry? Hundreds of thousands of students across North America will be learning about the value of our urban forests throughout the year, in preparation for their local Envirothon events. Here is your chance to get involved! We need volunteers to support regional events and act as judges for the presentation component of the program. If you are interested in getting more involved, contact your provincial Envirothon rep, all details can be found at www.envirothon.org<http://www.envirothon.org>.

Ontario Envirothon Championship - May 20-23- Fleming College, Lindsay  - envirothon at forestsontario.ca<mailto:envirothon at forestsontario.ca>
Manitoba Envirothon - May 21-23 - Canadian Mennonite University - envirocoordinator at thinktrees.org<mailto:envirocoordinator at thinktrees.org>
New Brunswick Envirothon - May 24- 25 - University of New Brunswick - info at envirothonnb.ca<mailto:info at envirothonnb.ca>
Nova Scotia Envirothon - May 7-8 - Brigadoon Village - kari at nsfa.ca<mailto:kari at nsfa.ca> British Columbia Envirothon - May 2 - www.envirothonbc.com<http://www.envirothonbc.com>
Alberta Envirothon - May 21-24 - Hinton Training Center - envirothonalberta at gmail.com<mailto:envirothonalberta at gmail.com>
Yukon Envirothon, Newfoundland Envirothon, PEI Envirothon information can be found on www.envirothon.org<http://www.envirothon.org>